Been awhile since I've done any gigapixel photography, let alone surfed through the forums. My second Merlin Head burned out a motor, first one arrived with numerous issues and with other things in life going on I put it to rest for awhile. Anyway, was hoping to get back in to shooting some gigapixel images for a trip I had coming up and I no longer see anything to use out there...

Merlin Heads which were under $200 at the time are no longer available in the US, the Panogear setup which is the same thing is priced way to high for what it is...the Allview that seems to have replaced the Merlin is a monstrosity to lug around and well...I dunno. Did I miss any other developments out there?

I have no answer to your question but I do love the title of this thread ;-)

Regards, Hans KeesomI stitch and render for other photographers. Price: 25 euro or less, no cure no pay. If you want to concentrate on your business let me do the stitching for you. Free TB of Dropbox space when you have more then 250 euro business a year.

Been awhile since I've done any gigapixel photography, let alone surfed through the forums. My second Merlin Head burned out a motor, first one arrived with numerous issues and with other things in life going on I put it to rest for awhile. Anyway, was hoping to get back in to shooting some gigapixel images for a trip I had coming up and I no longer see anything to use out there...

Merlin Heads which were under $200 at the time are no longer available in the US, the Panogear setup which is the same thing is priced way to high for what it is...the Allview that seems to have replaced the Merlin is a monstrosity to lug around and well...I dunno. Did I miss any other developments out there?

Hope everyone is doing well!Matt

Hi Matt!

Do you know the Panoneed head?

Very good, very robust, very reliable - and costing 2000.-â‚¬ + VAT the most cost-effective one among motorized and programmable multirow-heads.Writes XML which works with APG and PTGui.

Eh or a new motor....can't you screw open the Merlin (I have seen some opened and disemboweld on the net, so it must be possible) and check the motors, stepper motors are dirt cheap these days, you only need to know what motor to buy......checked the web and yes you can buy Merlin Orions in Europe by the cardload (and I bet some will be glad to ship them stateside)....but replacement parts are hard to come by. But since I bet my grannies grave that Orion/Accuter/Skywatcher/Panogear whatever are not in the business of cherning out specialised stepper motors some Chinese sweat shop must produce the motor you are looking for.

Artisan New wrote:Eh or a new motor....can't you screw open the Merlin (I have seen some opened and disemboweld on the net, so it must be possible) and check the motors, stepper motors are dirt cheap these days, you only need to know what motor to buy......checked the web and yes you can buy Merlin Orions in Europe by the cardload (and I bet some will be glad to ship them stateside)....but replacement parts are hard to come by. But since I bet my grannies grave that Orion/Accuter/Skywatcher/Panogear whatever are not in the business of cherning out specialised stepper motors some Chinese sweat shop must produce the motor you are looking for.

This is a Merlin in the nude (to keep in sync with the 1980th mr. Nelson).......at least at the bottom of this verry long page! Now replacing a motor does not seem to be that big of an issue. Question is where to find a replacement part.............

This is a Merlin in the nude (to keep in sync with the 1980th mr. Nelson).......at least at the bottom of this verry long page! Now replacing a motor does not seem to be that big of an issue. Question is where to find a replacement part.............

Greets, Ed.

I have an idea that the Celestron Nextstar 4/5 SE may use the same motor/encoder assemblies?: